Back in the spring of 2010 fight fans eagerly awaited a very particular announcement from Dana White and the UFC. We weren't waiting for the next title matchup or a major television deal to be announced.
The UFC's first ever lightweight champion, Jens Pulver had just lost his fifth fight in a row for Zuffa, the parent company of the UFC and now defunct WEC, and seven out of his last eight. Despite that record, Pulver's return to the organization after leaving with their belt years before when contract negotiations failed was, in many ways, a success.
Pulver helped ignite interest in the UFC's re-launched lightweight division, coached the popular fifth season of The Ultimate Fighter and made lots of money for his bosses by being a part of heated rivalries with BJ Penn and Urijah Faber.
Jens had been losing too much to not be cut by Zuffa, everyone knew, and had taken so much damage over the course of his legendary 11-year career that it was widely understood that he should probably stop for the sake of his health, in any case. Only problem was, Jens wasn't wealthy enough to stop earning income and as a professional fighter, fighting and the sponsorships that come with fighting were his only real sources of income.
He might have been "old" for a professional fighter at the light weights, but Jens was a young man in the real world, with a family to support for hopefully decades upon decades more. There is no union and so no pension for MMA fighters like Jens. He needed to earn.
Luckily, Jens had appeared to mend fences with Dana White and the UFC over the past few years in performing well for them, selling tickets and gaining television viewers. He had also proven himself as an insightful, colorful and entertaining television broadcaster.
